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Savard will make $1.3 million in each of the next two seasons, a significant raise from the $709,000 he made in 2012-13. The 23-year-old climbed the depth chart and earned significant playing time last season after an off-season workout program made him slimmer and quicker. In 70 games, he had five goals, 10 assists, 28 penalty minutes and a plus-2 rating. He also had four assists and four penalty minutes in the Blue Jackets' first-round Stanley Cup playoffs loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Savard, a fourth-round pick (No. 94 overall) in 2009, will come to training camp in September as the likely third-pair defensive partner of Dalton Prout. But Tim Erixon and Cody Goloubef -- both of whom will need to clear waivers before they can be sent to AHL Springfield -- will compete for that spot, too. The Blue Jackets' top four defensemen from last season -- Fedor Tyutin - Jack Johnson and Ryan Murray - James Wisniewski -- are all returning.

Bernier will have an AAV of $4.15 million over the next two years. The two sides did go to arbitration with Bernier asking for $5.1 million dollars, while the Leafs were countering with $2.89 million. This appears to be a good deal for both sides, as Bernier will get paid and the Leafs have a two-year window to see if he can become a consistent number one goaltender.

The Minnesota Wild have signed Erik Haula to a new two-year contract worth $2 million.

The two sides had an arbitration hearing on Friday, but they were able to come to terms on an extension before the arbitrator's ruling was announced. Haula had seven goals and 14 points in 72 games last season.

Alex Galchenyuk has agreed to a two-year, $5.6 million contract with the Montreal Canadiens.

Galchenyuk had 20 goals and 46 points in 80 games last season. He's still just 21 years old and with plenty of upside, so a bridge contract like this one makes a lot of sense for him. If he continues to develop then he'll be in line for a bigger payday when this contract expires following the 2016-17 campaign.

The Philadelphia Flyers have signed Jakub Voracek to an eight-year, $66 million contract.

That's a $8.25 million annual cap hit, although it won't kick in until 2016-17 as Voracek still has a season left on his existing four-year, $17 million deal. He had 81 points in 82 contests last season, so as long as he maintains that high level of play, that high cap hit will look justified. That's not a terrible bet for Philadelphia to make and we don't really find fault with the Flyers locking up one of the league's top forwards for the long haul.

Sean Couturier has inked a six-year, $26 million extension with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Couturier still has a year left on his existing deal, so he's now locked up through 2021-22. Couturier has established himself as a solid defensive center, but whether or not this deal will be viewed as a bargain will be dependent on his ability to grow offensively. Although he excelled with the puck at the junior level, he's never recorded more than 39 points in a single NHL season. Still, he's just 22 years old, so it's not unreasonable to believe that he'll continue to improve over the next few seasons.

Eric Fehr has signed a three-year, $6 million contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Fehr had 19 goals and 33 points in 75 games with the Washington Capitals in 2014-15. There's an opportunity here for Fehr to play alongside either Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin, which would obviously be a great boost to him. However, we're hesitant to recommend actually drafting him in standard leagues because Pittsburgh also revealed that he had elbow surgery on June 3. His timetable is four-to-six months, which means that he could be out until December and even when he does return, he might find it difficult to hit his stride after missing a significant chunk of the early season.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired Nick Bonino, Adam Clendening, and a second round selection in 2016 from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a 2016 third-rounder and Brandon Sutter.

Bonino had 15 goals and 39 points in 75 contests in an extremely hot-and-cold season with Vancouver in 2014-15. He only really came out into his own in 2013-2014, but at the age of 27 we can't expect him to continue to grow offensively. On top of that, this move will likely hurt his fantasy value as he's moving from a situation where he would have been the second line center to a team that will likely stick him on the third line. For Pittsburgh though this frees up some cap space as Bonino comes with a $1.9 million annual hit through 2016-17 compared to Sutter's $3.3 million hit in 2015-16 followed by him possibly testing the UFA waters.

Colin Wilson has signed a four-year, $15.75 million deal with the Nashville Predators.

Wilson was set to have an arbitration hearing on Tuesday, but this deal makes it moot. He had requested a $4.25 million payday from the arbitrator while Nashville had countered at $3 million. This deal obviously leans more towards Wilson's request than Nashville's, but the Predators must feel that's a fair trade off to lock him up for a longer term. He'll turn 26 in October and is coming off of a season where he scored 20 goals and 42 points in 77 games.

Derek Stepan has inked a six-year, $39 million contract with the New York Rangers.

The two sides avoided arbitration with almost no time to spare. Stepan had been seeking a $7.25 million contract from the arbitrator while the Rangers countered at $5.2 million, so this agreement is a logical middle ground based on those figures. Stepan still hasn't recorded more than 57 points in a single season, but it wouldn't be surprising to see him reach the 70-point mark before this new deal is over. You could argue that he's being overpaid just because he still has something left to prove, but the flip side is that it's not hard to see him turning into a player that makes this deal look like a discounted price. All-in-all, it strikes us as a reasonable compromise.

Brian Gionta acknowledged there will be a different kind of energy this season for the Sabres.

The sort of energy where guys actually think the front office is trying to improve the team instead of tanking to preserve a high draft pick. Gionta said "100 percent we’ll be a better team" after general manager Tim Murray added Evander Kane, Zach Bogosian, Ryan O’Reilly Jamie McGinn, David Legwand and Robin Lehner. And let's not forget Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart. "Look at the moves he's been able to make," Gionta said. "You can say you want a better team, you want to bring in better players, but for him to actually pull that off and make the moves he did, it shows that he means business. That excites guys in the locker room."

Fan interest in the shootout means that it won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

The NHL introduced three-on-three overtime last month as a way to curtail the amount of games decided by the skills competition. However, commissioner Gary Bettman doesn’t think it will go away, at least while he’s in charge. "I think to the extent some people wanted to see fewer shootouts, this will get us there, and that’s fine. The shootout isn’t going anywhere," Bettman said. "You go to a building during a shootout, everybody’s on their feet, nobody is leaving, which is what it was designed to do. It’s exciting, it’s fun, it’s entertaining, and so if we’re going to try and reduce the number of shootouts, this may do it."